


Summer Start

by Lacertae



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Drive-In Theatre, Established Relationship, Fluff, Genyatta Summer Week, Genyatta Week, M/M, Post-Recall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-11-19 17:09:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11317908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacertae/pseuds/Lacertae
Summary: *Genji/Zenyatta*Written for the Genyatta Summer week, Day 1: Movie Night/Drive-in theatre





	Summer Start

**Author's Note:**

> My internet provider disappeared on me all day yesterday so I spent an internetless day writing this, and I'm posting it one day late, sorry about that!

**Summer Start**

 

“This is quite exciting!”

Startled by the sudden exclamation, Genji glanced around, wondering what had caught Zenyatta’s attention.

They were taking a walk around one of the small towns nearby the OverWatch base. It was not a big place, but the scenery was rather striking, small brown and white buildings on the seaside, and it was not the first time they had visited since they started to work with the organisation. Even then, Genji could not see anything out of place around them that could justify Zenyatta’s words.

“What is it?”

Zenyatta turned to look at him, his forehead array was glowing brighter, the top three light flickering in what was Zenyatta’s way of showing interest.

“There is supposed to be a movie showing tonight,” he replied, sounding almost thrilled. “There’s a poster on that wall.”

Following Zenyatta’s line of sight, Genji turned to look. The poster was big but unassuming, and Genji had not noticed it at first as they’d passed right by it. It was advertising a drive-in movie night marathon in town. They would show a collection of science fiction themed movies, some of which rather old, and a couple new ones that Genji had not yet seen.

Genji felt a flicker of melancholy and huffed quietly, his lips curling up in a small smile, though it was hidden by his mouthpiece.

He remembered summers spent at the local drive-in theatre in Hanamura with his conquests or with his friends, watching movies sprawled on top of someone’s car hood, or sometimes even on his bike, a few times using the darkness as a cover to explore a willing partner’s body, or kissing them until the movie ended.

The memories were almost bittersweet, of a time long since gone, but he was able to think back at them without any kind of pain, just fondness.

“I see.” With a chuckle, Genji shook his head and resumed walking. “I remember having fun whenever one happened back at home, but they lost their appeal after the first handful of times…” he paused when he noticed Zenyatta was not following him, his optical sensors still focused on the poster. “… Zenyatta? Did you… did you want to go?”

Startled out of his thoughts, Zenyatta looked at him. “Ah… you do not seem that enthused, my dear?” he did not sound upset or disappointed, his voice carefully blank, but the tell-tale flicker of his forehead array was gone, and Genji felt a small pang in his heart.

“Oh I… no, I did not think you’d be really interested in going?” Genji remembered that time fondly, but that was the past. He rarely watched movies nowadays, and if anything he could just stream one on his phone at home. Drive-in theatres were a retro kind of fun, but not as popular as they’d been fifty, sixty years in the past.

Besides, they did not even have a _car_.

Zenyatta’s shoulders slumped slightly –an inch or two at most, but Genji _did_ notice. “I have never had the chance to experience a movie night outside,” he admitted, fingers crossed in front of him. “I thought it would be fun, but it is not important.”

Genji blinked, Zenyatta’s words registering through his brain with a second of delay, but when they did, his eyes widened behind his visor. “You never…” he bit down on the rest of what he wanted to say.

He knew a lot about Zenyatta’s past before the Shambali, collected in bits and pieces that Zenyatta had revealed to him during the years, and he knew that it had not been as pleasant as his own childhood had been before Hanzo’s actions had sent him spiralling downwards.

Yet Genji had never thought to ask about the little things –he was not sure how far to push and what to ask, and Zenyatta was good at derailing conversations when they were about himself. He was good at focusing on others, but the notion that he could ask for help  –for _support_ – for himself was something he had trouble with.

Still, he felt at fault –there were always things Genji took for granted that people like Zenyatta – _omnics_ – had not been allowed to have.

If he thought back to a time where he paid little interest to anything that was not having fun and flirting he could remember that in Hanamura, too, there had been notices banning omnics from using certain facilities. Genji at the time hadn’t cared much about omnics’ rights, too focused on himself and his own life, but looking back now, he remembered and cringed at how the hatred had been everywhere around him, leading his own thoughts down a path of apathy.

So soon after the omnic crisis and the war, and for years afterwards, things had not been as free, and it was thanks to those like Mondatta, who were relentless in their pursue of equality, that omnic rights had advanced as much as they had.

Genji still forgot, even now, even when part of his body was not human anymore.

“I want to go.” His steely tone made Zenyatta look up at him, appearing startled. “I would like to take you to the drive-in show tonight,” he clarified at Zenyatta’s head tilt.

“Genji, I appreciate your gesture, but it is not–”

“It is important for _you_. And… I had fun back then. I want to share this experience with you. It would please me so, Zenyatta,” in two steps he was back at his side, hand reaching out to take one of Zenyatta’s in his own, intertwining their fingers together. “You wish to go, and that is enough for me. It is alright to want to do things for yourself. As you always make sure to remind me, sometimes you have to indulge, there is nothing wrong with that.”

Zenyatta chuckled, the sound light and warm, and it washed over Genji’s body like a cleansing tide, soothing in part his guilt.

“Thank you, Genji. I guess there are some lessons that are easier to teach than learn, hmm?”

“Ah, but there’s a problem still that we might have to solve,” Genji pushed his visor up, making his best attempt to frown, and Zenyatta looked at him in askance. “We do not possess a car, and you cannot go to a drive-in movie show without a car.”

Zenyatta’s forehead array blinked off and on, and when Genji’s frown melted away, eyes crinkling up in a smile, he chuckled in answer.

“… oh. That might be a problem, indeed.”

***

The area reserved for the movie showing was quite big, with a holographic screen set up against one side of a rocky mountain cliff. There were barriers to keep people from getting too close to the edge, but it offered a spacious enough view for everybody to see comfortably from their own seats.

The area was well lit, though the lights would go off once the show started, and a lot of workers from the town were walking around, directing the cars to the still free slots. Genji and Zenyatta had arrived early enough that there were a lot of spaces left, so they were taking things slow.

Genji looked around uninterestedly for a few seconds, noticing just how many people were there, most of which were actually middle aged or older, probably out to enjoy the show as they had once did in their childhoods.

What made his heart ache a little, though –in a good way– was that there were many omnics present as well, some with humans, some grouped together. They all appeared happy to Genji’s eyes, and he wondered how many of them had been free to enjoy something simple like this in the past.

The day had been rather hot, so much that even the in-built fans in Genji’s body had worked a little harder to regulate his temperature, but now that it was past dawn the air was cooler and he could breathe easier, though he did not remove his visor even in the dark, since otherwise he would get bitten by mosquitoes all over what was left of his human skin.

He and Zenyatta had resolved their problem by asking around the base if anyone had a car they could use, though at first the answers had been disappointingly negative. Lucio moved around using public transportations and his own motorized wheels, conscious about pollution, and Tracer liked to jog to keep herself fit, so the only one who had an actual car among the members of OverWatch was, amusingly enough, Reinhardt.

It was a suitably big, yet reliable, model of car. It was spacious enough to manage Reinhardt’s body without strain, and Genji had needed to shift the driver seat a lot to be able to fit comfortably and reach the pedals.

Zenyatta, impressed with the car and with Genji’s knowledge on how to drive it, was content with sitting at his side, eyeing their surroundings from the open window with clear glee.

“Does this meet your expectations so far, master?” Genji grinned under his mouthpiece, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel as he manoeuvred around a smaller car to find a good spot to park.

One of the attendants of the lot waved one hand at him, signalling him to drive left, and he followed his indications.

“Genji, I told you… I’m not your master,” yet Zenyatta’s voice was distracted as he was too busy looking around him, and Genji’s grin softened into a fond smile.

It was a familiar banter, as Zenyatta had stopped being his official ‘teacher’ the moment they had left the Shambali monastery, a little over a year in the past. They had gotten together a few months later, and yet Genji sometimes still found himself calling Zenyatta his master.

The word had lost its original connotation, as Genji was not following Zenyatta anymore and had never had any intention to become a monk, but the respect it elicited was still there, tempered with love and fondness.

To see him so taken by the novelty setting…

Zenyatta’s face was as unreadable as ever, but Genji had learned to read him well enough in their time together to know he was incredibly pleased to be there, his optical sensors flickering everywhere with the kind of open, honest interest he always reserved for new things.

It was not even such a great thing –it was just a parking lot with a giant screen, and yet…

And yet, it was enough to make Zenyatta happy.

Genji had to force himself to look away from him, focusing back on putting his car in one of the allotted spaces.

The spots at both sides of their car were already occupied. On the left there was a car that was smaller than Reinhardt’s, a compact modern model with darkened windows, and Genji rolled his eyes at how obvious it looked from where he was sitting that the occupants were probably not here for the movie. On the other side, though, there wasn’t a proper car –there was a bigger omnic model, the kind built with four wheels, carrying a human and a human-model omnic on their back. Zenyatta cheerfully waved at them in greeting, though he did not seem inclined to start a conversation with them.

Genji flipped through the program for the evening, amused at the choice of movies.

Most were picks from the last twenty years, and the marathon would last well into the night, with the last movie ending around six in the morning for those who chose to stay until the end.

They’d brought snacks too, and Zenyatta had insisted to bring pillows as well, to be more comfortable even when he had no need for them. It had been rather adorable, as Zenyatta had been obviously looking forwards to the show all day, and Genji felt some of that anticipation pass to him as well; it was impossible not to be glad to spend time with Zenyatta on a date, and watching him be this happy for such a simple thing…

“Thank you, Genji,” Zenyatta had apparently had enough of looking around, and turned to stare at him instead, shaking Genji out of his thoughts. “I am pleased to be here, but most of all I am glad I can share this experience with you.”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Genji removed his visor, looking at the empty screen perfectly visible in front of them. “This is smaller than the one we had in Hanamura, but it’s newer,” he added after a few seconds. “It was forbidden to bring snacks there, they would only allow you food if you bought it from the stands in the lot, but I used to sneak food in all the time.”

“Oh, so you were a troublemaker even then, were you?” the mirth was evident in Zenyatta’s voice, and Genji grinned back at him.

“Oh yes, always,” Genji wriggled his eyebrows, then slid his seatbelt off and removed his mouthpiece as well, putting it away as he reached out towards Zenyatta, finally giving in to his desire to kiss him.

He moved one hand to cup Zenyatta’s facial plate, thumb sliding right under the curve of his metallic jaw, and tugged him closer. Zenyatta went willingly, tilting his head into his touch, his forehead array dimming a little at their proximity.

For a few seconds, Genji paused like that, a few inches separating them, simply looking into Zenyatta’s optical sensors and smiling.

With Zenyatta, it felt like every moment was a blessing –the coils of happiness inside his chest never left, stirring up whenever they were apart and growing stronger whenever they met again, and no matter how much time passed, Genji loved him no less than before.

That he could, at any given time, freely reach out to touch him, hold his hand, tug him closer for a kiss… this was freedom all over again. Zenyatta’s constant presence at his side was something Genji would never take for granted.

Even this –sharing something he’d once partaken when young with people now lost in the folds of his past– meant more, when he could do it with Zenyatta.

It was like building a bridge between the Genji that was with the Genji of now –a different one, more stable, who went through so much pain and rebuilt himself anew. Yet, Genji could not erase who he had been, nor did he want to. This connection between the _then_ and the _present_ was like a bittersweet thread that tied Genji together into who he was now.

It was true he’d wanted to bring Zenyatta here for his sake –because Zenyatta had been deprived of many experiences due to him being an omnic, and Genji’s purpose in life was to make him _happy_ – but it was also true that he was enjoying it as well.

Carefree time spent with Zenyatta, doing idle things just for fun, being just _Genji_ …

“What is it you are thinking about, my dear?” Zenyatta’s voice was gentle, soft, and vibrated through Genji’s hand on his faceplate.

“You,” he answered, almost breathless. “How happy I am, always, at your side.”

Genji felt one of Zenyatta’s hands move to hold on his wrist, thumb caressing the base of his hand –a delicate touch, like everything Zenyatta did was, full of love and affection and trust, and Genji melted a little, pushing forwards until his lips were pressed fully against the seam of Zenyatta’s mouth piece.

Omnic energy surged up to flicker against his lips, the softest zap across his skin, and he parted his lips to trace the seam of Zenyatta’s mouth line, pressing kiss after kiss against the cool surface, unable to get enough of it and of the buzz of omnic energy, Zenyatta’s way to kiss him back.

“How silly you are,” Zenyatta murmured, ever so fondly, “when it is you who makes me the happiest, Genji.”

“You are a sap,” Genji pulled away for a second, laughter bubbling up to his lips, then muffled it by pressing his lips against the side of Zenyatta’s face.

“Then that makes two of us, Genji,” a flicker of omnic energy caressed Genji’s lips, making them tingle. “I still have to thank you. You might think me silly for being so enthused with simply watching a movie in a car… Reinhardt’s car… and yet…”

“No, I do understand. I am sorry you were not able to have this experience before, and it is not silly.”

“Ah, but I am not. Sorry, that is. It just means I got to share this first with you, my dear.”

Genji slumped down, pressing his forehead against the metal pistons of Zenyatta’s neck, shoulders shaking in mirth.

“Ah, but you do have me beat in regards to sappiness… you truly are the master.”

Zenyatta’s hand left his wrist to gently swat the back of his head, fingers caressing down the curve of his nape and the sensors there. “What kind words,” he said, sounding amused. “So tell me, Genji, did you kiss all the lucky ones you brought with you to the movies?”

Genji moved away, his hand returning to Zenyatta’s neck, idly caressing his pistons and nodes.

“Oh, not just that. Why, would you like another demonstration?” he exaggerated his eyebrow wriggling, at peace with his past relationships and his heartbreaker persona as a youth enough to joke about it, and Zenyatta let out a quiet gasp, just as exaggerated.

“Genji, how daring.” Genji leaned forwards again, intending to kiss Zenyatta again, but there was a flicker of light coming from outside the car, and Zenyatta hurried to look that way, the soft mood between them dissipating into thin air as the lights across the parking lot dimmed down. “Is it starting?”

With a disappointed huff, Genji shuffled back and pushed his seat backwards a bit, settling more comfortably down and grabbing the snacks from the back of the car. He did not want to ruin Zenyatta’s very first drive-in movie night experience by taking his attention away from the movies, but that did not mean he would not regret the lack of kissing, either way. “Seems like it, yes.”

Zenyatta clapped his hands together and mimicked his pose, relaxed into his seat. With even less lights than before, Genji could barely see him now, and yet he still looked at his profile in the dark, putting back on his mouthpiece to give his lungs a bit of a reprieve.

As the lights of the holoscreen in front of them flickered on and the advertising for the first movie started, Genji felt cool fingers seek his own to hold, metal against metal.

It did not matter, in the end, that Genji could not kiss Zenyatta during the show –there was something incredibly intimate in watching a movie like this, surrounded by nameless strangers in other cars and yet alone with one another.

Rubbing Zenyatta’s fingers with his thumb idly, Genji could barely focus on the movie plot as it unfolded, too caught up in trying to carve this single moment of time as deeply as he could into his memory, so that even if decades passed by, he would never forget.

Summer had started, sneaking up on them like a tide, and Genji hoped it would bring them more nights to spend together.


End file.
